Patristic Wisdom: Looking to the Twenty-Third Sunday after Pentecost

“Because behold, the day comes, burning as a furnace, and it will consume them and all foreigners, and all the ones who do evil will become like straw, and the coming day will burn them up,” says the Lord Almighty. “And neither a root nor a branch will be left of them. And the sun of righteousness will rise for you, the ones fearing my name, and there will be healing in its wings. And you will come and leap like little calves from the band spreading forth. And you will trample the evil ones, because they will be like ashes under your feet, on the day that I will make,” says the Lord Almighty. “And behold, I am sending to you Elijah the Tishbite before the great and famous day of the Lord comes, who will restore the heart of a father to a son and the heart of a person to his neighbor, lest I should come and strike the land entirely. Remember the law of my servant Moses, as I commanded him in Horeb with all Israel, with commandments and decrees.” (Malachi 4:1–6 LXX)

This applies both to the first coming of our Savior and the second: in the first He rose like a kind of sun for us who were seated in darkness and shadow, freed us from sin, gave us a share in righteousness, covered us with spiritual gifts like wings, and provided healing for our souls. In the second coming for those worn out in the present life He will appear either in accord with their will or against it, and as a just judge He will judge justly and provide the promised good things. Just as the material sun in its rising awakens to work those in the grip of sleep, so in His coming He raises up those in the grip of the long sleep of death.

Theodoret of Cyrus, Commentary on Malachi 4.2

But since the Savior was the beginning of the resurrection of all people, it was fitting that the Lord alone should rise from the dead, by whom too the judgment is to enter the whole world, that they who have wrestled worthily may be also crowned worthily by Him, by the illustrious Arbiter. That is, He Himself first accomplished the course, and was received into the heavens, and was set down on the right hand of God the Father, and is to be manifested again at the end of the world as judge. It is a matter of course that His forerunners must appear first, as He says by Malachi and the angel, “I will send to you Elijah the Tishbite before the Day of the Lord, the great and notable day, comes; and he shall turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, and the disobedient to the wisdom of the just, lest I come and smite the earth utterly.” These, then, shall come and proclaim the manifestation of Christ that is to be from heaven; and they shall also perform signs and wonders; in order that people may be put to shame and turned to repentance for their surpassing wickedness and impiety.

Hippolytus, On the Antichrist 46

Patristic Wisdom: Looking to the Twenty-Second Sunday after Pentecost

Now, brethren, concerning the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our gathering together to Him, we ask you, not to be soon shaken in mind or troubled, either by spirit or by word or by letter, as if from us, as though the day of Christ had come. Let no one deceive you by any means; for that Day will not come unless the falling away comes first, and the man of sin is revealed, the son of perdition, who opposes and exalts himself above all that is called God or that is worshiped, so that he sits as God in the temple of God, showing himself that he is God. Do you not remember that when I was still with you I told you these things? And now you know what is restraining, that he may be revealed in his own time. For the mystery of lawlessness is already at work; only He who now restrains will do so until He is taken out of the way. And then the lawless one will be revealed, whom the Lord will consume with the breath of His mouth and destroy with the brightness of His coming.… But we are bound to give thanks to God always for you, brethren beloved by the Lord, because God from the beginning chose you for salvation through sanctification by the Spirit and belief in the truth, to which He called you by our gospel, for the obtaining of the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ. Therefore, brethren, stand fast and hold the traditions which you were taught, whether by word or our epistle. Now may our Lord Jesus Christ Himself, and our God and Father, who has loved us and given us everlasting consolation and good hope by grace, comfort your hearts and establish you in every good word and work. (2 Thessalonians 2:1–8, 13–17)

Such is Paul's account. And we have reached the “falling away.” Men, that is, have fallen away from the true faith. Some proclaim the identity of Father and Son. Others dare to assert that one should believe Christ has come into existence out of nonexistence. Formerly heretics were quite evident, but now the church is full of masked heretics. For men have deserted the truth and want to have their ears tickled. Make a plausible case, and everyone is ready to listen to you. Talk of changing one's life, and everyone deserts you. The majority have fallen away from the sound doctrines and are readier to choose what is bad than to prefer what is good. So there you have the “falling away,” and the coming of the enemy is to be expected next. Meanwhile, he has begun to send out his forerunners here and there, so that the spoil may be prepared for him when he comes. Therefore, brothers, look to yourselves. Watch over your souls carefully.

The Antichrist just mentioned by Paul will come when the destined period of the Roman Empire has run its course and the subsequent end of the world is drawing near. Ten claimants to the empire will arise simultaneously, I suppose in different parts, but all wearing the purple at the same time. Antichrist will form an eleventh after them, having seized the imperial power by the use of magic arts. He will humble three of those who came to power before him and cause the remaining seven to be Caesars under him. At first he will feign mildness and will appear to be a learned and understanding man, with pretended prudence and kindness. Then he will take in the Jews, by making them suppose him to be their expected Messiah, by false signs and wonders produced by magical trickery. And afterwards his character will be written large in evil deeds of inhumanity and lawlessness of every kind, so as to outdo all wicked and godless men that were before him. He will display a murderous, most absolute, pitiless and unstable temper toward all people, but especially toward us Christians. He will act insolently for only three and a half years. Then he will be defeated by the second glorious coming from heaven of the only-begotten Son of God, our Lord and Savior Jesus, the true Christ. He will destroy Antichrist “with the spirit of his mouth” and commit him to the flames of hell.

Cyril of Jerusalem, Catechetical Lectures 15.9, 12

Patristic Wisdom: Looking to All Saints' Sunday

A hallelujah.

Sing to the Lord a new song.
        His praise is in the assembly of holy ones.
Let Israel be gladdened in the one who made him,
        and let the children of Zion rejoice exceedingly in their King.
Let them praise his name in dance;
        with tambourine and harp let them sing psalms to him,
because the Lord is well pleased with his people,
        and he will raise up the humble in salvation.
Holy ones will boast in glory,
        and they will rejoice exceedingly in their beds,
the heights of God in their throat
        and double-edged swords in their hands,
to enact vengeance among the nations,
        reproof among the peoples,
to bind their kings in fetters
        and those held in esteem among them in iron handcuffs,
to enact among them written judgment.
        This is glory to all his holy ones. (Psalm 149:1–9 LXX)

My brothers and sisters, my children, O seedlings of the Catholic Church, O holy and heavenly seed, O you that have been born again in Christ and been born from above, listen to me—or rather, listen to God through me: Sing to the Lord a new song. “Well, I am singing,” you say. Yes, you are singing, of course you’re singing, I can hear you. But don’t let your life give evidence against your tongue. Sing with your voices, sing also with your hearts; sing with your mouths, sing also with your conduct.

Sing to the Lord a new song. You ask what you should sing about the one you love? For of course you do want to sing about the one you love. You are asking for praises of his to sing. You have been told, Sing to the Lord a new song. You are looking for praise songs, are you? His praise is in the Church of the saints. The praise of the one to be sung about is the singer himself. Do you want to sing God his praises? Be yourselves what you sing. You are his praise if you lead good lives.

His praise, you see, is not to be found in the synagogues of the Jews, nor in the madness of the pagans, nor in the errors of the heretics, nor in the applause of the theaters. You ask where it is to be found? Look at yourselves, you be it. His praise is in the Church of the saints. You ask what to rejoice about when you are singing? Let Israel rejoice in the one who made him, and all he can find to rejoice about is God.

Augustine of Hippo, Sermon Preached at Carthage at the Ancestors 34.6

For the Lord has conferred benefits on his people. What greater benefit could he bestow than to die for the impious? What greater kindness than to blot out with his own blood the decree that stood against a sinner? What greater favor than to say, “I do not care what you have been. Become now what you were not”? The Lord has conferred benefits on his people by forgiving sins and promising eternal life. He is beneficent in turning back to himself one who is turned away, in aiding one who does battle, in crowning one who conquers. The Lord has conferred benefits on his people.

And he will lift up the gentle to salvation. The proud are uplifted too, but not to salvation. The gentle are raised up to salvation, but the proud in death, for, while the proud exalt themselves, the Lord humbles them, but the gentle humble themselves, and the Lord exalts them. He will lift up the gentle to salvation.

Augustine of Hippo, Expositions of the Psalms 149.9

Patristic Wisdom: Looking to Reformation Sunday

For the end, a psalm in the name of the sons of Korah, because of the hidden ways.

Our God is a place of refuge and strength,
        a helper when afflictions find us exceedingly.
On account of this, we will not fear when the earth is troubled
        and the mountains are transferred in the hearts of the seas.
Their waters roared and were stirred up;
        the mountains were troubled in his might.

Musical interlude

The torrents of the river gladden the city of God.
        The Most High sanctified his habitation.
God is in the midst of her. She will not be shaken.
        God will help her with his countenance.
The nations were stirred up; kingdoms fell.
        He gave his voice; the earth was afflicted.
The Lord of powers is with us.
        The God of Jacob is our helper.

Musical interlude

Come, see the works of the Lord,
        which he set as wonders upon the earth.
Removing wars until the ends of the earth,
        he will crush bow and shatter weapon,
        and he will burn shields with fire.
“Cease from action, and know that I am God.
        I will be lifted high among the nations.
        I will be lifted high in the earth.”
The Lord of powers is with us.
        The God of Jacob is our helper.

(Psalm 45 LXX [Psalm 46])

Do not flee, then, what you do not need to flee, and do not have recourse to him to whom it is unnecessary. But, one thing you must flee, sin; and one refuge from evil must be sought, God. Do not trust in princes; do not be exalted in the uncertainty of wealth; do not be proud of bodily strength; do not pursue the splendor of human glory. None of these things saves you; all are transient, all are deceptive. There is one refuge, God. ‘Cursed be the man that trusteth in man,’ or in any human thing.

Therefore, ‘God is our refuge and strength.’ To him who is able to say: ‘I can do all things in him,’ Christ, ‘who strengthens me,’ God is strength. Now, it is the privilege of many to say: ‘God is our refuge,’ and ‘Lord, thou hast been our refuge.’ But, to say it with the same feelings as the prophet is the privilege of few. For, there are few who do not admire human interests but depend wholly upon God and breathe Him and have all hope and trust in Him. And our actions convict us whenever in our afflictions we run to everything else rather than to God. Is a child sick? You look around for an enchanter or one who puts superstitious marks on the necks of the innocent children; or finally, you go to a doctor and to medicines, having neglected Him who is able to save. If a dream troubles you, you run to the interpreter of dreams. And, if you fear an enemy, you cunningly secure some man as a patron. In short, in every need you contradict yourself—in word, naming God as your refuge; in act, drawing on aid from useless and vain things. God is the true aid for the righteous man. Just as a certain general, equipped with a noble heavy-armed force, is always ready to give help to an oppressed district, so God is our Helper and an Ally to everyone who is waging war against the wiliness of the devil, and He sends out ministering spirits for the safety of those who are in need.

Since God is in the midst of the city, He will give it stability, providing assistance for it at the first break of dawn. Therefore, the word, ‘of the city,’ will it either Jerusalem above or the Church below, ‘The most High hath sanctified his own tabernacle’ in it. And through this tabernacle, in which God dwelt, He was in the midst of it, giving it stability. Moreover God is in the midst of the city, sending out equal rays of His providence from all sides to the limits of the world. Thus, the justice of God is preserved, as He apportions the same measure of goodness to all. ‘God will help it in the morning early.’ Now, the perceptible sun produces among us the early morning when it rises above the horizon opposite us, and the Sun of justice produces the early morning in our soul by the rising of the spiritual light, making day in him who admits it. ‘At night’ means we men are in this time of ignorance. Therefore, having opened wide our mind, let us receive ‘the brightness of his glory,’ and let us be brightly illumined by the everlasting Light, ‘God will help it in the morning early.’ When we have become children of light, and ‘the night is far advanced for us, and the day is at hand,’ then we shall become worthy of the help of God. Therefore, God helps the city, producing in it early morning by His own rising and coming. ‘Behold a man,’ it is said, ‘the Orient is his name.’ For those upon whom the spiritual light will rise, when the darkness which comes from ignorance and wickedness is destroyed, early morning will be at hand. Since, then, light has come into the world in order that he who walks about in it may not stumble, His help is able to cause the early morning. Or perhaps, since the Resurrection was in the dim morning twilight, God will help the city in the morning early, who on the third day, early on the morning of the Resurrection gained the victory through death.

Basil of Caesarea, Homilies on the Psalms 18:1–2, 5

Patristic Wisdom: Looking to the Nineteenth Sunday after Pentecost

After rising up that night, he took his two wives and the two maidens and his eleven children, and he crossed over the ford of Jabbok. And he took them and crossed over the brook and carried across all his things. Jacob remained alone, and a person wrestled with him until the morning. He saw that He could not prevail against him, and He touched the broad part of his thigh, and the broad part of Jacob’s thigh became numb when He wrestled with him. And He said to him, “Send me away, for the dawn has come.” He said, “I will not send You away, if You do not bless me.” He said to him, “What is your name?” He said, “Jacob.” And He said to him, “No longer will your name be called Jacob, but your name will be ‘Israel’ because you prevailed with God, and you are mighty with people.” Jacob asked and said, “Reveal to me Your name.” And He said, “Why do you ask My name?” And He blessed him there. And Jacob called the name of that place “Form of God,” for “I saw God face to face, and my life was spared.” (Genesis 32:22–30 LXX)

A man, Scripture says, wrestled with Jacob. If he is a mere man, who is he? Where did he come from? Why does he struggle and wrestle with Jacob? What had come between them? What had happened? What was the cause of so great a conflict and struggle as that? Moreover, why is it that Jacob proves to be the stronger even to the holding of the man with whom he was struggling? And why still, because the morning star was rising, is it he who, on that account, asks a blessing from him whom he held? It can only mean that this struggle was prefiguring that future contention between Christ and the sons of Jacob, which is said to have had its completion in the Gospel. For Jacob’s people struggled against this man and proved to be more powerful in the conflict, because they obtained the triumph of their own unrighteousness over Christ. Then, on account of the crime they had perpetrated, they began to limp very badly in the gait of their own faith and salvation, stumbling and slipping in their course. Though Jacob’s people proved superior by their condemnation of Christ, they still need His mercy and still need His blessing. Now, this man who wrestled with Jacob says to him. “Your name shall no longer be called Jacob, but Israel shall be your name.” And if Israel is a man who ‘sees God,’ then the Lord was showing in an elegant manner that he who wrestled with Jacob was not only man, but also God. Undoubtedly, Jacob saw God with whom he wrestled, though it was a man whom he held in his grip. That there might not remain any doubt, he himself gave the interpretation when he said: “For you have prevailed with God, and with men you are powerful.” That is why this same Jacob, understanding now the meaning of the prefiguration and realizing the authority of him with whom he had wrestled, called the name of the place where he had wrestled “Vision of God.” Furthermore, he added his reasons for giving his interpretation of God: “I have seen God face to face, and my soul has been saved.” For he saw God with whom he wrestled, as though he were wrestling with a man; but while as if victor he held the man, as an inferior he asked a blessing of him, as one would of God. Thus he wrestled with God and with man. Now if this struggle was then prefigured and has been actually fulfilled in the Gospel between Christ and Jacob’s people—a struggle in which the people proved superior, yet were found to be inferior because of their guilt—who will hesitate to acknowledge that Christ in whom this figure of a struggle was fulfilled was not only Man but also God, when that very figure of a struggle seems to have proved that He is both God and Man?

Novatian, On the The Trinity 19.8–14

Patristic Wisdom: Looking to the Eighteenth Sunday after Pentecost

You therefore, my son, be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus. And the things that you have heard from me among many witnesses, commit these to faithful men who will be able to teach others also. You therefore must endure hardship as a good soldier of Jesus Christ. No one engaged in warfare entangles himself with the affairs of this life, that he may please him who enlisted him as a soldier. And also if anyone competes in athletics, he is not crowned unless he competes according to the rules. The hardworking farmer must be first to partake of the crops. Consider what I say, and may the Lord give you understanding in all things. Remember that Jesus Christ, of the seed of David, was raised from the dead according to my gospel, for which I suffer trouble as an evildoer, even to the point of chains; but the word of God is not chained. Therefore I endure all things for the sake of the elect, that they also may obtain the salvation which is in Christ Jesus with eternal glory. This is a faithful saying:

For if we died with Him,
We shall also live with Him.
If we endure,
We shall also reign with Him.
If we deny Him,
He also will deny us.
If we are faithless,
He remains faithful;
He cannot deny Himself. (2 Timothy 2:1–13)

What is the world but a sort of arena of continual strife? Wherefore also in the Apocalypse the Lord says, To him that overcomes will I give a crown of life; and Paul says, I have fought a good fight; and in another place, No man is crowned except he strive lawfully. He who institutes this combat is Almighty God. Now he who in this world offers a combat, does he not first provide all things which are necessary thereto, and prepare the chaplets of victory before he summons the athletics to contend for the prize; and all this that the conqueror may not suffer delay, but retire from the contest crowned with his reward? Now the rewards of man are the fruits of the earth and the lights of heaven; the former for the use of this present life, the latter for the hope of life eternal.

As a wrestler therefore he enters the lists last of all; he raises his eyes to heaven, he sees that even the heavenly creation was made subject to vanity, not willingly, but by reason of him who hath subjected the same in hope. He sees that the whole creation groaneth in pain together, waiting for redemption. He sees that labor awaits us all. He raises his eyes, he sees the circlets of lights, he surveys the orbs of the moon and stars: For the just, who overcome, shall be as the stars in heaven. And he chastises his body, that it may not be his enemy in the combat, he anoints it with the oil of mercy, he exercises it with daily trials of virtue, he smears himself with dust, he runs to the goal of the course but not as uncertainly, he aims his blows, he darts forth his arms, but not into empty space, he strikes the adversary whom he sees not, for he has respect to Him alone to Whom all enemies give way, even those who are invisible, in Whose Name the powers of the air were turned aside. It is he therefore who poises the blow, but it is Christ Who strikes, it is he who lifts up his heel, but Christ Who directs it to the ground. Lastly, although Paul saw not those whom he struck, he was not as one that beats the air, because by the preaching of Christ he wounded those evil spirits which assaulted him. Rightly therefore did man, for whom a race was prepared, enter the course last, that he might be preceded by heaven which was to be, as it were, his reward.

Ambrose of Milan, Letter to Horontianus 43.4–5

Patristic Wisdom: Looking to the Seventeenth Sunday after Pentecost

The message that the prophet Habakkuk saw.
How long, O Lord, will I cry aloud,
        and you will not listen?
After being wronged, I will cry to you,
        and you will not save?
Why did you show me troubles and toils,
        to look upon distress and impiety?
A judgment has come against me,
        and the judge is receiving.
On account of this, the law has been rejected,
        and judgment is not brought to an end,
because an impious person oppresses the righteous;
        for this reason the judgment will come forth perverted.

I will stand firm on my watch,
        and I will go upon a rock,
and I will keep watch to see what he will say to me
        and what I should answer against my rebuke.
And the Lord answered me and said,
“Write a vision, and clearly onto a tablet,
        in order that the one who reads might pursue the things.
Because there is still a vision for the time,
        and he will appear at an end, and not in vain;
if he is late, wait for him,
        because one coming will be present, and he will not tarry.
If he draws back, My soul does not find pleasure in it,
        but the righteous one will live by My faith. (Habakkuk 1:1-4; 2:1-4 LXX)

The all-merciful and beneficent Father has [a heart for] those who fear him, and kindly and lovingly He bestows His favors upon those who come to Him with a simple mind. Therefore let us not be double-minded; neither let our soul be lifted up on account of His exceedingly great and glorious gifts. Far from us be that which is written, “Wretched are they who are of a double mind and of a doubting heart; who say, ‘These things we have heard even in the times of our fathers, but, behold, we have grown old, and none of them has happened unto us.’” You foolish ones! Compare yourselves with a tree; take the vine. First of all, it sheds its leaves, then it buds, next it puts forth leaves, and then it flowers; afterwards comes the sour grape, and then follows the ripened fruit. You perceive how in a little time the fruit of a tree comes to maturity. Of a truth, soon and suddenly shall His will be accomplished, as the Scripture also bears witness, saying, “Speedily will He come, and will not tarry,” and “The Lord shall suddenly come to His temple, even the holy one, for whom you look.”

Clement of Rome, 1 Clement 23

Do not offer the words only to those now uncertain about these matters; instead, transmit the record of them in writing also to those coming later, since what will be said is applicable to the latter rather than the former, the prophecy taking effect after a long time. He then urges them also to look forward to the fulfillment, and have no qualms about the lapse of time beforehand. The import of the prophecy is true, so have no doubts, even if you do not see the fulfillment for a long period of time; it will definitely come to pass and not remained unfulfilled. The victim of a wavering attitude to the promises made by Me is unworthy of My care, whereas the one who believes in what is said by Me and lives a life in keeping with that faith will reap the fruit of life. Realize this, therefore, and accept in faith what is revealed to you.

Theodoret of Cyrus, Commentary on Habakkuk 2

Patristic Wisdom: Looking to the Sixteenth Sunday after Pentecost

Woe to those who disdain Zion,
        and to those who trust in the mountain of Samaria.
They picked the rulers of the nations,
        and they entered.
O house of Israel, walk, all of you, and see,
        and pass through from that place to Hamath Rabbah,
        and go down from that place to Gath of foreigners,
the nobles from all these kingdoms,
        if their borders are greater than your borders.
Those who are coming to a bad day,
        who are drawing near and holding false sabbaths,
those laying down to sleep upon beds of ivory
        and living luxuriously upon their beds,
and eating kids from the flocks
        and suckling little calves from the midst of herds,
those clapping to the music of the instruments,
        since they considered them as having stood and not as fleeting,
those drinking filtered wine
        and those anointing themselves with first-rate myrrh,
and they would not suffer anything
        because of the ruin of Joseph.
On account of this, now they will be captives
        from the beginning of the mighty ones,
and the neighing of horses
        will be removed from Ephraim. (Amos 6:1–7 LXX)

It is not that we esteem the crimes of the poor as less serious, but a greater hatred of your crimes strikes you, whom greater wealth has magnified. For what is the point of your being more illustrious in respect to public honor and wealth? It behooved you to have a greater zeal for religion. But now you strive to be rich no less in impiety than in money. Therefore, the lamentations will lay hold of you, but serious ones. For with respect to the divine judgment, some mercy may be applied to them that are of little account, “but the mighty shall be mightily tormented.” Therefore, among such great misfortunes of the lands, which experience such things either on account of lost strength or on account of the calamities that are already invading, you trust in the defenses and fortification of your locations (namely, in Zion and Samaria) thinking that you will be guarded against the wrath of the judge. Woe to you who are wealthy in Zion, and who trust in the mountain of Samaria, you nobles, heads of the people who enter the house of Israel with a great pomp. For you have never prostituted yourself more than in the time of adversities, so great was the greed for excess that filled you. When the power of your nation was already for the most part destroyed, nevertheless you swell with opulence and are abandoned to luxury within your besieged cities.

Julian of Eclanum, Commentary on Amos 2.6

The Lord now threatens for the reasons that the prophetic message lists above: because of those who sleep on ivory beds and frolic on their couches, who eat lambs from the flock and calves from the midst of the herd, who sing to the sound of the harp and drink wine in bowls, who anoint themselves with the best ointment. In addition to all this, they suffer in no way concerning the destruction of his people, the people begotten from the line of Joseph. And he says: Because they have done these sorts of things, now they will go away at the head of those who are transmigrating. And the meaning is: Punishment will not be put off until the future, nor is it prophesied about times far distant. What my word predicts has now fallen on them; it is about to come. They will go at the beginning of those transmigrating, that is, the princes and the powerful to whom he had said above: “Hear this word, you fat cows who are on the mountain of Samaria.” And again: “Woe to you who are wealthy in Zion and who trust in the mountain of Samaria; you nobles, heads of the peoples who enter the house of Israel with great pomp.” You who are first in riches will be the first to bear the yoke of captivity, according to what is written in Ezekiel: “Begin from my sanctuary.” Not from the holy ones, as many people think, but from the destruction of the temple, which was the holy place. For “the mighty will be tormented mightily,” and to whom more is entrusted more will also be demanded from him.

Jerome, Commentary on Amos 3.6

Patristic Wisdom: Looking to the Fifteenth Sunday after Pentecost

Amos the Prophet by Gustav Dore

Hear now these things, you who are destroying the poor man in the morning
        and are oppressing the beggars of the land,
who are saying, “When will the month passes
        and we will do business,
and the Sabbaths,
        and we will open the treasury,
to make a small measure, to increase the weight,
        and to make an unjust yoke,
to acquire beggars with silver,
        and a humble one for sandals,
        and we will trade from every kind of produce?”
The Lord swears by the arrogance of Jacob;
        He will not forget all your works. (Amos 8:4–7 LXX)

What shall be said to this by those of us who are buyers and sellers of corn, and watch the hardships of the seasons, in order to grow prosperous, and luxuriate in the misfortunes of others, and acquire, not, like Joseph, the property of the Egyptians, as a part of a wide policy, (for he could both collect and supply corn duly, as he also could foresee the famine, and provide against it afar off,) but the property of their fellow countrymen in an illegal manner, for they say, “When will the new moon be gone, that we may sell, and the sabbaths, that we may open our stores?” And they corrupt justice with divers measures and balances, and draw upon themselves the ephah of lead. What shall we say to these things who know no limit to our getting, who worship gold and silver, as those of old worshiped Baal, and Astarte and the abomination Chemosh? …

Join with us, divine and sacred person, in considering these questions, with the store of experience, that source of wisdom, which you have gathered in your long life. Herewith instruct your people. Teach them to break their bread to the hungry, to gather together the poor that have no shelter, to cover their nakedness and not neglect those of the same blood, and now especially that we may gain a benefit from our need instead of from abundance, a result which pleases God more than plentiful offerings and large gifts. After this, nay before it, show yourself, I pray, a Moses, or Phinehas today. Stand on our behalf and make atonement, and let the plague be stayed, either by the spiritual sacrifice, or by prayer and reasonable intercession. Restrain the anger of the Lord by your mediation: avert any succeeding blows of the scourge. He knows to respect the hoary hairs of a father interceding for his children. Entreat for our past wickedness: be our surety for the future. Present a people purified by suffering and fear. Beg for bodily sustenance, but beg rather for the angels’ food that comes down from heaven. So doing, you will make God to be our God, will conciliate heaven, will restore the former and latter rain: the Lord shall show loving-kindness and our land shall yield her fruit; our earthly land its fruit which lasts for the day, and our frame, which is but dust, the fruit which is eternal, which we shall store up in the heavenly winepresses by your hands, who presents both us and ours in Christ Jesus our Lord, to whom be glory for evermore. Amen.

Gregory of Nazianzus, Oration 16.19–20

Patristic Wisdom: Looking to the Fourteenth Sunday after Pentecost

For that reason, this is what the Lord says: “Look, I shall seek out my sheep and watch over them. Just as the shepherd seeks his flock on the day when there is darkness and a cloud in the midst of the separated sheep, so I will seek out my sheep and drive them away from everywhere they were scattered on the day of cloud and darkness. And I will bring them out of the nations and gather them from the countries and lead them into their land, and feed them on the mountains of Israel and in the valleys and in every dwelling place of the land. I will tend them in a good pasture, in Israel’s high mountain. And their sheepfolds will be there and they will sleep, and there they will rest in good delight, and they will feed in a rich pasture upon Israel’s mountains. I shall tend my sheep, and I shall give them rest, and they will know that I am the Lord.” This is what the Master, the Lord, says: “I shall seek the perishing and return the stray and bind up the crushed and strengthen the faint and guard the strong and tend them with justice.” And you sheep, this is what the Master, the Lord, says: “Look, I shall bring judgment between sheep and sheep, rams and he-goats. And was it not enough for you that you were grazing the good pasture and trampling the rest of your pasture with your feet, and drinking the stagnant water and stirring up the rest with your feet? And my sheep were grazing on the tramplings of your feet, and they were drinking water troubled by your feet!” ‘On account of this, this is what the Master, the Lord, says: “Look, I will judge between strong sheep and weak sheep. You kept pushing by your ribs and shoulders and you kept butting with your horns, and you were afflicting all the faint. But I shall save my sheep, and they will never again become plunder, and I shall judge between ram against ram. And I shall raise up one shepherd over them and he is shepherding them: my servant David; and he shall be their shepherd, and I, the Lord, shall become their God, and David a ruler in their midst; I, the Lord, have spoken. (Ezekiel 34:11–24 LXX)

We must ponder the fact that everyone, as much as he can, as much as he is in a position to, should strive zealously to make known to the Church he has undertaken to serve both the dreadfulness of the coming judgment and the sweetness of the kingdom. One who is not in a position to offer encouragement to everyone at the same time should instruct individuals, as much as he can, he should offer instruction in personal talks, he should seek for profit in the hearts of his children through simple encouragement. We must consider what was said to the apostles, and by the apostles to us: You are the salt of the earth. If we are salt, we should season the hearts of believers. You who are shepherds, consider that you are pasturing God’s flock. Of them the psalmist said: Your flock shall dwell in it. We often see a block of salt put out for brute animals; they are to lick it and be made better. A priest among his people should be like a block of salt in the midst of brute animals. A priest must be careful about what he says to individuals, to counsel each one in such a way that anyone associated with the priest may be seasoned with the taste of eternal life as if by contact with salt. We are not the salt of the earth if we do not season the hearts of those who hear us. One who does not withhold his preaching gives this seasoning to his neighbor. But then we truly preach what is right to others, if our words are revealed in our actions, if we ourselves are pierced by divine love, and if we wash away with our tears the stains of human life which we daily acquire, since we cannot live without sin. Then do we truly feel remorse if we diligently ponder the deeds of our ancestors so that when we have regarded their renown, our own lives may appear mean in our eyes. Then do we truly feel remorse, when we diligently examine God’s commandments, and strive to advance by the means we know those whom we reverence used for their own advancement.

Gregory the Great, Forty Gospel Homilies 19

Patristic Wisdom: Looking to the Thirteenth Sunday after Pentecost

“Because this command that I am commanding you today is not excessive nor far from you. It is not in the sky above, saying, ‘Who will go up for us into the sky and take it for us and upon hearing it, will we do it?’ Nor is it across the sea, saying, ‘Who will go over for us to the other side of the sea and take it for us and make it audible to us, and we will do it?’ The word is very near you, in your mouth and in your heart and in your hands to do it. See now, I have given before you today life and death, good and evil. If you listen to the commands of the Lord your God that I am commanding you today, to love the Lord your God, to walk in all his ways, to keep his ordinances and his judgments, then you shall live and become numerous, and the Lord your God will bless you in all the land into which you are entering there to take possession of it. And if your heart turns away and you do not listen, and in wandering you worship other gods and serve them, I declare to you today that you shall certainly be destroyed, and you shall be not long-lived on the land into which you are crossing over the Jordan there to take possession of it. I call to witness against you today both heaven and earth. I have given life and death before you, the blessing and the curse; you should choose life in order that you may live, you and your descendants, to love the Lord your God, to listen to his voice and to be close to him. For this is life for you and the length of your days, for you to dwell on the land that the Lord swore to your fathers, Abraham and Isaac and Jacob, to give to them.” (Deut 30:11–20 LXX)

Behold, man, you have before you ‘Water and fire, life and death, good and evil,’ heaven and hell, the legitimate king and a cruel tyrant, the false sweetness of the world and the true blessedness of paradise. Power is given to you through the grace of Christ: ‘Stretch forth your hand to whichever you choose.’ ‘Choose life, that you may live’; leave the broad way on the left which drags you to death, and cling to the narrow path on the right which happily leads you to life. Do not allow the wideness of that road on the left to keep you or give you pleasure. To be sure, it is spacious and level, adorned with different kinds of flowers; but its flowers quickly fade and even between the flowers poisonous serpents frequently lie hidden, so that when you hurry on to these false joys you are struck by their deadly venom. This way is spacious, but it is not long. You pay attention to the kind of road you are walking, and do not notice what kind of a land you are reaching. If you listen to me, you withdraw yourself from death, for if you do not believe in Christ you will perish in hell, as the Lord Himself said in the Gospel: ‘Wide and broad is the way that leads to death, and many there are who enter that way.’ Truly, it gives pleasure for a time, but it deceives for all eternity. On the other hand, the road on the right should not sadden or frighten you: it is indeed narrow, but it is not long. The rejoicing on the wide path does not last long, and neither does the labor on the narrow way; after a short, broad path the former drags one into eternal straightened circumstances, while after brief difficulties the latter leads to endless bliss.

Caesarius of Arles, Sermon 151.5

Patristic Wisdom: Looking to the Twelfth Sunday after Pentecost

Now it happened, as He went into the house of one of the rulers of the Pharisees to eat bread on the Sabbath, that they watched Him closely. And behold, there was a certain man before Him who had dropsy. And Jesus, answering, spoke to the lawyers and Pharisees, saying, “Is it lawful to heal on the Sabbath?” But they kept silent. And He took him and healed him, and let him go. Then He answered them, saying, “Which of you, having a donkey or an ox that has fallen into a pit, will not immediately pull him out on the Sabbath day?” And they could not answer Him regarding these things. So He told a parable to those who were invited, when He noted how they chose the best places, saying to them: “When you are invited by anyone to a wedding feast, do not sit down in the best place, lest one more honorable than you be invited by him; and he who invited you and him come and say to you, ‘Give place to this man,’ and then you begin with shame to take the lowest place. But when you are invited, go and sit down in the lowest place, so that when he who invited you comes he may say to you, ‘Friend, go up higher.’ Then you will have glory in the presence of those who sit at the table with you. For whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted.” Then He also said to him who invited Him, “When you give a dinner or a supper, do not ask your friends, your brothers, your relatives, nor rich neighbors, lest they also invite you back, and you be repaid. But when you give a feast, invite the poor, the maimed, the lame, the blind. And you will be blessed, because they cannot repay you; for you shall be repaid at the resurrection of the just.” (Luke 14:1–14)

For a Pharisee, of higher rank than usual, invited Jesus to a banquet: and He, although He knew their malice, went with him, and dined in their company. And He submitted to this act of condescension, not to honor His inviter, but rather to benefit those in whose company He was, by such words and miraculous deeds as might lead them to the acknowledgment of the true service, even that which is taught us by the gospel. For He knew that even against their will He would make them eyewitnesses both of His power, and of His more than human glory, if perchance even so they might believe that He is God and the Son of God, Who assumed indeed our likeness, but continued unchanged, nor ceased to be that which He had been.…

What benefit then He has here too discovered for us, we learn from the passage now read. For He was dining on the sabbath day with one of the Pharisees, at his special request. And his purpose in so doing, and motive we explained unto you when last we met together. But inasmuch as He saw certain of those who were invited foolishly seizing the uppermost seats as a thing of importance, and worth the taking, and that they were eager after vainglory, for the benefit both of them and us He utters an urgent warning, saying; “When you are bidden of any one, seat not yourself at the head of the seat, lest a more honorable man than you be bidden of him, and when he that bade you and him comes, he say unto you, Give this man place; and then you begin with shame to take the lowest place.”

Now such things may seem perchance to some to be but trifling matters, and not worthy of much attention. But when any one fixes upon them the eye of his mind, he will then learn, from what blame they deliver a man, and how great orderliness they produce in him. For in the first place to hurry inconsiderately after honors neither suitable, nor due to us, shews us to be foolish, rude, and arrogant, seizing what is not fitting for us, but for others rather, who are greater than and superior to ourselves. Whoever he be that thus acts, is hated, and often too becomes an object of ridicule, when he has to restore to others, and that often against his will, the honor which in no respect belongs unto him. “For when, He says, a more honorable man than thou comes, he that bade thee and him will say, Give this man place.” O! what great ignominy is there in having so to do! It is like a theft, so to speak, and the restitution of the stolen goods. He must restore what he has seized; for he had no right to take it. But the modest and praiseworthy man, who might without fear of blame have claimed the dignity of sitting among the foremost, seeks it not, but yields to others what might be called his own, that he may not even seem to be overcome by vainglory; and such an one shall receive honor as his due: for he shall hear, He says, him who bade him say, “Come up here.”

Cyril of Alexandria, Commentary on Luke Homily 101, 102

Patristic Wisdom: Looking to the Eleventh Sunday after Pentecost

And He went through the cities and villages, teaching, and journeying toward Jerusalem. Then one said to Him, “Lord, are there few who are saved?” And He said to them, “Strive to enter through the narrow gate, for many, I say to you, will seek to enter and will not be able. When once the Master of the house has risen up and shut the door, and you begin to stand outside and knock at the door, saying, ‘Lord, Lord, open for us,’ and He will answer and say to you, ‘I do not know you, where you are from,’ then you will begin to say, ‘We ate and drank in Your presence, and You taught in our streets.’ But He will say, ‘I tell you I do not know you, where you are from. Depart from Me, all you workers of iniquity.’ There will be weeping and gnashing of teeth, when you see Abraham and Isaac and Jacob and all the prophets in the kingdom of God, and yourselves thrust out. They will come from the east and the west, from the north and the south, and sit down in the kingdom of God. And indeed there are last who will be first, and there are first who will be last.” (Luke 13:22–30)

Let us listen therefore to the Savior’s words, which He addressed unto those who wanted to learn, whether they be few who are saved: and to whom the Savior answered, “Strive to enter in by the strait door.” Now this reply may seem perhaps, to wander from the scope of the question. For the man wanted to learn, whether they be few who are saved: but He described unto him the way whereby he might be saved himself, saying, “Strive to enter in by the strait door.” What reply then do we make to this objection? We answer as follows; that it was the custom of our common Savior Christ to meet His questioners, not of course according to what might seem good to them, but as having regard to what was useful and necessary for His hearers. And this He especially did when any one wanted to learn what was superfluous and unedifying. For what good was there in wishing to learn, whether there be many or few that be saved? What benefit resulted from it to the hearers? On the contrary it was a necessary and valuable thing to know in what way a man may attain to salvation. He is purposely silent therefore with respect to the useless question which had been asked Him, but proceeds to speak of what was essential, namely, of the knowledge necessary for the performance of those duties by which men can enter in at the strait and narrow door. For this He has also taught us in another place, saying; “Enter in at the strait door: for wide is the door, and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and many are they that go in thereby. For strait is the door, and narrow is the way that leads unto life, and few are they that find it.”

Cyril of Alexandria, Commentary on Luke 99

I must, however, on my side, dispel one fond conceit by another, and contend with even leaven is suitable for the kingdom of the Creator, because after it comes the oven, or, if you please, the furnace of hell. How often has He already displayed Himself as a Judge, and in the Judge the Creator? How often, indeed, has He repelled, and in the repulse condemned? In the present passage, for instance, He says, “When once the master of the house is risen up;” but in what sense except that in which Isaiah said, “When He arises to shake terribly the earth?” “And hath shut to the door,” thereby shutting out the wicked, of course; and when these knock, He will answer, “I know you not whence ye are;” and when they recount how “they have eaten and drunk in His presence,” He will further say to them, “Depart from me, all ye workers of iniquity; there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth.” But where? Outside, no doubt, when they shall have been excluded with the door shut on them by Him. There will therefore be punishment inflicted by Him who excludes for punishment, when they shall behold the righteous entering the kingdom of God, but themselves detained without. By whom detained outside? If by the Creator, who shall be within receiving the righteous into the kingdom? The good God.

Tertullian, Against Marcion IV.30

Patristic Wisdom: Looking to the Tenth Sunday after Pentecost

“I came to send fire on the earth, and how I wish it were already kindled! But I have a baptism to be baptized with, and how distressed I am till it is accomplished! Do you suppose that I came to give peace on earth? I tell you, not at all, but rather division. For from now on five in one house will be divided: three against two, and two against three. Father will be divided against son and son against father, mother against daughter and daughter against mother, mother-in-law against her daughter-in-law and daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law.” Then He also said to the multitudes, “Whenever you see a cloud rising out of the west, immediately you say, ‘A shower is coming’; and so it is. And when you see the south wind blow, you say, ‘There will be hot weather’; and there is. Hypocrites! You can discern the face of the sky and of the earth, but how is it you do not discern this time?” (Luke 12:49–56)

Spiritual understanding is at work in every passage of the Gospels. In the present case, fearing that the rigidity of a simple explanation may offend someone, the sequence of the sense is to be qualified by spiritual depth.… We will believe that the Lord took care to advise reverence for the Godhead at the same time as the grace of piety. He said, “You will love the Lord your God, and you will love your neighbor.” Is the present so changed as to erase the names of close kin and set affections at variance? Are we to believe that He has commanded discord within families? How is He our peace, who has made both one? How does He himself say, “My peace I give to you, my peace I leave with you,” if He has come to separate fathers from sons and sons from fathers by the division of households? How is he cursed who dishonors his father and devout who forsakes him? If we observe that the first is because of religion and the second through piety, we shall think this question is simple. It is necessary that we should esteem the human less than the divine. If honor is to be paid to parents, how much more to your parents’ Creator, to whom you owe gratitude for your parents! If they by no means recognize their Father, how do you recognize them? He does not say children should reject a father but that God is to be set before all. Then you have in another book, “He that loves father or mother more than Me is not worthy of Me.” You are not forbidden to love your parents, but you are forbidden to prefer them to God. Natural children are true blessings from the Lord, and no one must love the blessing that he has received more than God by whom the blessing, once received, is preserved.

Ambrose, Exposition of the Gospel of Luke 7.134–36

People focus their attention on things of this kind. From long observation and practice they tell beforehand when rain will fall or violent winds will blow. One especially sees that sailors are very skillful in this matter. He says that it would be suitable for those who can calculate things of this sort and may foretell storms that are about to happen to focus the penetrating eyes of the mind also on important matters. What are these? The law showed beforehand the mystery of Christ, that He would shine out in the last ages of the world on the inhabitants of the earth and submit to be a sacrifice for the salvation of all. It even commanded a lamb to be sacrificed as a type of him who died towards evening and at lighting of lamps. We might now understand that when, like the day, this world was declining to its close, the great, precious and truly saving passion would be fulfilled. The door of salvation would be thrown wide open to those who believe in him, and abundant happiness be their share. In the Song of Songs, we also find Christ calling to the bride described there. The bride personally represents the church, in these words, “Arise, come, my neighbor, my beautiful dove. Look, the winter is past, and the rain is gone. It has passed away. The flowers appear on the ground. The time of the pruning has come.” As I said, a certain springlike calm was about to arise for those who believe in Him.

Cyril of Alexandria, Commentary on Luke Homily 95

Patristic Wisdom: Looking to the Ninth Sunday after Pentecost

Then He said to His disciples, “Therefore I say to you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat; nor about the body, what you will put on. Life is more than food, and the body is more than clothing. Consider the ravens, for they neither sow nor reap, which have neither storehouse nor barn; and God feeds them. Of how much more value are you than the birds? And which of you by worrying can add one cubit to his stature? If you then are not able to do the least, why are you anxious for the rest? Consider the lilies, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin; and yet I say to you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. If then God so clothes the grass, which today is in the field and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, how much more will He clothe you, O you of little faith? “And do not seek what you should eat or what you should drink, nor have an anxious mind. For all these things the nations of the world seek after, and your Father knows that you need these things. But seek the kingdom of God, and all these things shall be added to you. “Do not fear, little flock, for it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom. Sell what you have and give alms; provide yourselves money bags which do not grow old, a treasure in the heavens that does not fail, where no thief approaches nor moth destroys. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. (Luke 12:22–34)

Who would be unwilling that we should distress ourselves about sustenance for our life, or clothing for our body, but He who has provided these things already for man; and who, therefore, while distributing them to us, prohibits all anxiety respecting them as an outrage against his liberality?—who has adapted the nature of “life” itself to a condition “better than meat,” and has fashioned the material of “the body,” so as to make it “more than raiment;” whose “ravens, too, neither sow nor reap, nor gather into storehouses, and are yet fed” by Himself; whose “lilies and grass also toil not, nor spin, and yet are clothed” by Him; whose “Solomon, moreover, was transcendent in glory, and yet was not arrayed like” the humble flower. Besides, nothing can be more abrupt than that one God should be distributing His bounty, while the other should bid us take no thought about (so kindly a) distribution—and that, too, with the intention of derogating (from his liberality). Whether, indeed, it is as depreciating the Creator that he does not wish such trifles to be thought of, concerning which neither the crows nor the lilies labor, because, forsooth, they come spontaneously to hand by reason of their very worthlessness, will appear a little further on. Meanwhile, how is it that He chides them as being “of little faith?” What faith? Does He mean that faith which they were as yet unable to manifest perfectly in a god who has hardly yet revealed, and whom they were in process of learning as well as they could; or that faith which they for this express reason owed to the Creator, because they believed that He was of His own will supplying these wants of the human race, and therefore took no thought about them? Now, when He adds, “For all these things do the nations of the world seek after,” even by their not believing in God as the Creator and Giver of all things, since He was unwilling that they should be like these nations, He therefore upbraided them as being defective of faith in the same God, in whom He remarked that the Gentiles were quite wanting in faith. When He further adds, “But your Father knows that you have need of these things,” I would first ask, what Father Christ would have to be here understood? If He points to their own Creator, He also affirms Him to be good, who knows what His children have need of; but if He refers to that other god, how does he know that food and raiment are necessary to man, seeing that he has made no such provision for him? For if he had known the want, he would have made the provision. If, however, he knows what things man has need of, and yet has failed to supply them, he is in the failure guilty of either malignity or weakness. But when he confessed that these things are necessary to man, he really affirmed that they are good. For nothing that is evil is necessary. So that he will not be any longer a depreciator of the works and the indulgences of the Creator, that I may here complete the answer which I deferred giving above. Again, if it is another god who has foreseen man’s wants, and is supplying them, how is it that Marcion’s Christ himself promises them? Is he liberal with another’s property? “Seek,” says He, “the kingdom of God, and all these things shall be added unto you”—by himself, of course. But if by Himself, what sort of being is he, who shall bestow the things of another? If by the Creator, whose all things are, then who is he that promises what belongs to another? If these things are “additions” to the kingdom, they must be placed in the second rank; and the second rank belongs to Him to whom the first also does; His are the food and raiment, whose is the kingdom.

Tertullian, Against Marcion 4.29

Patristic Wisdom: Looking to the Eighth Sunday after Pentecost

“Vanity of vanities,” said the ecclesiast,
    “Vanity of vanities. Everything is vanity.”
I, Ecclesiast, became
    king over Israel in Jerusalem.

And I set my heart to seek out
    and to survey with wisdom concerning all things
    that happen under the sky,
because an evil distraction
    God gave to the sons of men
    to be troubled within himself.
I saw the actions all together
    that are done under the sun,
    and look, they are all vanity and the preference of the wind.

And I hated my whole labor
    that I toiled at under the sun,
    for I must leave it to the person who comes after me.
And who knows whether he will be wise or foolish?
    And whether he will have authority over all my labor
    that I labored and I gained wisdom under the sun?
And this too was vanity.
And I turned to set my heart
    in all my labor at which I labored under the sun;
for there is a person that his labor
    is in wisdom and in knowledge and in virtue.
And the person, to one who has not labored at it,
    will give his portion to him.
And this too is vanity and great wickedness.
For it happens in the person in all his labor
    and in the preference of his heart
    with which he labors under the sun.
For all his days
    are of suffering, and his distraction is anger,
    and at night too his heart does not sleep.
And this too is vanity.
There is no good thing for a person
    that he shall eat and that he shall drink and that he shall show his soul
    good in his labor.
And this too I saw, that it was from God’s hand.
    For who shall eat and who shall drink without him?
For to the good person
    before him he gave wisdom
    and knowledge and merriment.
And to the sinner he gave distraction,
    to increase and to gather,
    to give the good before God.
    For even this too is vanity and the preference of the wind.

(Eccl 1:2, 12-14; 2:18-26 LXX)

I think that the true Ecclesiastes next teaches about the great mystery of salvation when God manifested Himself in the flesh. “I applied my heart to seek out and examine by wisdom all things done under heaven.” The reason for our Lord’s dwelling with men is to give His heart over in wisdom to consider his actions done under the sun. For man is not allowed to consider what lies above heaven just as healthy persons do not require doctors. Evil belongs to the earth. A snake is a reptile which crawls on its belly, eats earth instead of food from heaven, crawls on anything trampled down and is always on the prowl. It watches for man’s heel and injects poison in those who have lost the power to tread on serpents. For this reason Ecclesiastes gives his heart over to careful consideration of every activity done under heaven. As for what lies above the heavens, the prophet gazes at the divine magnificence and says “His magnificence is exalted above the heavens.” Since evil oppresses the realm lying under heaven, the psalm says that sin has brought men low. Ecclesiastes considers how things made under heaven which had no prior existence became subject to vanity and how that which lacked existence took over and became dominant. Evil cannot exist because it is non-existent, and non-existence has no nature belonging to itself; nevertheless, vanity dominates those things which resemble it.

Ecclesiastes has come to search through his own wisdom those actions done under the sun, their confusion, why things are subject to nonexistence and how that which is insubstantial prevails against being. He knew that “God has given to the sons of men an evil trouble to be vexed with.” This is not a pious deed we can readily understand because God has given an evil to the sons of men in order to trouble them; and so one may attribute the cause of evil to God. He who is good by nature indeed bestows goodness because every good tree bears good fruit; a grape cluster does not spring up from thorns nor do thorns come from a vine. Therefore he who is good by nature does not offer evil from his own storehouse; a good man does not speak evil from the abundance of his heart but utters words in accord with his nature. How, then, is the fountain of grace not a source of evil? A more pious understanding suggests that God bestows upon man the gift of free will which he abused and then became an instrument for sin. This free will is good and subject to no one, while anything subject to necessity should not be counted as good. But any impulse coming from the mind is free; it distracts the soul to choose evil and pulls it down to passion from the lofty honors it had received. Such is the meaning of “He has given”; not that God has given evil to men, but that men have used God's benefits to commit thoughtless evil. Holy scripture expresses this by proclaiming “God has handed them over to the disgrace of passion,” “The Lord has hardened Pharaoh's heart,” “Why, Lord, have you caused us to err from Your way and have hardened our hearts not to fear You,” “He caused them to wander in a desert and not in the way,” “You have deceived me, and was deceived” and other such remarks. An accurate understanding of these verses does not mean that human nature lacks anything unbecoming from God; rather, they censure our power of free choice which in itself is good and a gift bestowed by God to human nature. But as a result of indiscretion, free will inclines towards the opposite way. Ecclesiastes thus sees all things done under the sun and calls them vanity. “There is not one who understands or seeks after God” since all have turned aside and have become worthless: “Behold, all is vanity.” He does not attribute this cause to God but to human free choice which he calls the wind. He condemns this wind although it was good at the beginning; there would be no need for such condemnation, but it turned aside by conforming to the world.

Gregory of Nyssa, Homilies on Ecclesiastes 2

Patristic Wisdom: Looking to the Seventh Sunday after Pentecost

As you therefore have received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in Him, rooted and built up in Him and established in the faith, as you have been taught, abounding in it with thanksgiving. Beware lest anyone cheat you through philosophy and empty deceit, according to the tradition of men, according to the basic principles of the world, and not according to Christ. For in Him dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily; and you are complete in Him, who is the head of all principality and power. In Him you were also circumcised with the circumcision made without hands, by putting off the body of the sins of the flesh, by the circumcision of Christ, buried with Him in baptism, in which you also were raised with Him through faith in the working of God, who raised Him from the dead. And you, being dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, He has made alive together with Him, having forgiven you all trespasses, having wiped out the handwriting of requirements that was against us, which was contrary to us. And He has taken it out of the way, having nailed it to the cross. Having disarmed principalities and powers, He made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them in it. (Colossians 2:6–15)

In other words, since under pressure they embraced the life of the Law, he brings out once again the difference in circumcision: it is not of the flesh (he is saying) but of the Spirit, not done by human hand but Divine, not a removal of a fragment of flesh but freedom from all corruption. It is not the Law that is responsible for this but Christ the Lord, the giver of the Law; he says, note, in Him also you were circumcised, and again, through the circumcision of Christ. By putting off the body of the sins of the flesh he referred to saving baptism: in it we put off the soiled garment of sin. In the life to come, on the other hand, the body, rendered incorruptible and immortal, can no longer be affected by the stain of sin. Now, to the fact that this refers to baptism the sequel also testifies. Since he called saving baptism a type of death (implying this in buried), he gives the good news of resurrection. And since we still have a mortal nature, he went on: believing in the power of God we await the resurrection, having having the resurrection of Christ the Lord as a pledge.

Sin destroyed us all, imposing on us the sentence of death. But the God of all made us sharers in the life of Christ the Lord, and bestowed on us forgiveness of sins.

Theodoret of Cyrus, Interpretation of the Letter to the Colossians 2

Patristic Wisdom: Looking to the Sixth Sunday after Pentecost

Now it happened as they went that He entered a certain village; and a certain woman named Martha welcomed Him into her house. And she had a sister called Mary, who also sat at Jesus’ feet and heard His word. But Martha was distracted with much serving, and she approached Him and said, “Lord, do You not care that my sister has left me to serve alone? Therefore tell her to help me.” And Jesus answered and said to her, “Martha, Martha, you are worried and troubled about many things. But one thing is needed, and Mary has chosen that good part, which will not be taken away from her.” (Luke 10:38–42)

This should be our principal effort, then; this should be constantly pursued as the fixed goal of our heart, so that our mind may always be attached to divine things and to God. Whatever is different from this, however great it may be, is nevertheless to be judged as secondary or even as base, and indeed as harmful.

Martha and Mary are very beautifully portrayed in the Gospel as examples of this attitude and manner of behavior. For although Martha was indeed devoting herself to a holy service, ministering as she was to the Lord himself and to his disciples, while Mary was intent only on spiritual teaching and was clinging to Jesus’ feet, which she was kissing and anointing with the ointment of a good confession, yet it was she whom the Lord preferred, because she chose the better part, and one which could not be taken from her. For as Martha was toiling with devout concern and was distracted with her work, she saw that she could not accomplish so large a task by herself, and she asked the Lord for her sister’s help: “Does it not concern You that my sister has left me to serve by myself? Tell her to help me, then.” She was calling her not to a disreputable task, to be sure, but to a praiseworthy service. Yet what did she hear from the Lord? “Martha, Martha, you are concerned and troubled about many things, but few things are necessary, or even one. Mary has chosen the good part, which shall not be taken away from her.”

You see, then, that the Lord considered the chief good to reside in theoria alone—that is, in divine contemplation. Hence we take the view that the other virtues, although we consider them necessary and useful and good, are to be accounted secondary because they are all practiced for the purpose of obtaining this one thing. For when the Lord said: “You are concerned and troubled about many things, but few things are necessary, or even one,” he placed the highest good not in carrying out some work, however praiseworthy, but in the truly simple and unified contemplation of Him, declaring that “few things” are necessary for perfect blessedness—namely, that theoria which is first established by reflecting on a few holy persons. Ascending from the contemplation of these persons, someone who is still advancing will arrive with his help at that which is also called “one”—namely, the vision of God alone, so that, when he has gone beyond even the acts of holy persons and their wonderful works, he may be fed on the beauty and knowledge of God alone. So it is that “Mary has chosen the good part, which shall not be taken from her.” This too should be looked at more closely. For when He says: “Mary has chosen the good part,” although He says nothing about Martha and certainly does not seem to reprimand her, nonetheless in praising the former He asserts that the latter occupies a lower position. Again, when He says: “Which shall not be taken from her,” He indicates that the latter’s position could be taken from her (for a person cannot uninterruptedly practice a ministry in the body), but He teaches that the zeal of the former can surely not come to an end in any age.

John Cassian, The Conferences 1.8

Patristic Wisdom: Looking to the Fifth Sunday after Pentecost

And behold, a certain lawyer stood up and tested Him, saying, “Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?” He said to him, “What is written in the law? What is your reading of it?” So he answered and said, “‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your strength, and with all your mind,’ and ‘your neighbor as yourself.’” And He said to him, “You have answered rightly; do this and you will live.” But he, wanting to justify himself, said to Jesus, “And who is my neighbor?” Then Jesus answered and said: “A certain man went down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and fell among thieves, who stripped him of his clothing, wounded him, and departed, leaving him half dead. Now by chance a certain priest came down that road. And when he saw him, he passed by on the other side. Likewise a Levite, when he arrived at the place, came and looked, and passed by on the other side. But a certain Samaritan, as he journeyed, came where he was. And when he saw him, he had compassion. So he went to him and bandaged his wounds, pouring on oil and wine; and he set him on his own animal, brought him to an inn, and took care of him. On the next day, when he departed, he took out two denarii, gave them to the innkeeper, and said to him, ‘Take care of him; and whatever more you spend, when I come again, I will repay you.’ So which of these three do you think was neighbor to him who fell among the thieves?” And he said, “He who showed mercy on him.” Then Jesus said to him, “Go and do likewise.” (Luke 10:25–37)

Then the robbers, who had stripped and wounded him, do not help the naked man, but they strike him again with blows and leave him. Hence, Scripture says, “They robbed him and inflicted wounds on him; and they went away and left him”—not dead, but “half-dead.” But it happened that first a priest, and then a Levite, were going down on the same road. Perhaps they had done some good to other men, but not to this man, who had gone down “from Jerusalem to Jericho.” For, the priest saw him—I think this means the Law. And the Levite saw him—that is, in my view, the prophetic word. When they had seen him, they passed by and left him. Providence was saving the half-dead man for him who was stronger than the Law and the prophets, namely for the Samaritan. The name means “guardian.” He is the one who “neither grows drowsy nor sleeps as he guards Israel.” On account of the half-dead man, this Samaritan set out not “from Jerusalem into Jericho,” like the priest and the Levite who went down. Or, if he did go down, he went down to rescue and care for the dying man. The Jews had said to him, “You are a Samaritan and you have a demon.” Though he denied having a demon, he was unwilling to deny that he was a Samaritan, for he knew that he was a guardian.

So, when he had come to the half-dead man and seen him rolling about in his own blood, he had pity on him. He drew near to him, in order to become his neighbor. “He bound his wounds, poured in oil mixed with wine,” and did not say what the prophet records: “There is no poultice to put on, neither oil nor bandages.” The Samaritan is that man whose care and help all who are badly off need. The man who was going down from Jerusalem and fell among thieves, who was wounded and left by them half-alive, needed the help of this Samaritan most of all. You should know that, according to God’s providence, this Samaritan was going down to care for the man who had fallen among thieves. You learn that clearly from the fact that he had bandages, oil, and wine with him. I do not think that the Samaritan carried these things with him only on behalf of that one, half-dead man, but also on behalf of others who, for various reasons, had been wounded and needed bandages, oil, and wine.

He had oil. Scripture says of it, “to gladden one’s face with oil”—without doubt, it means the face of him who was healed. He cleans the wounds with oil, to reduce the swelling of the wounds, but also with wine, adding in something that stings. And the man who had been wounded “he placed on his own beast,” that is, on his own body, since he deigned to assume a man. This Samaritan “bears our sins” and grieves for us. He carries the half-dead man, and brings him to the pandochium—that is, the Church, which accepts everyone and denies its help to no one. Jesus calls everyone to the Church when He says, “Come to Me, all you who labor and are burdened, and I shall refresh you.”

After he has brought him in, he does not depart immediately. He remains for a day at the inn with the half-dead man. He cares for his wounds not only during the day, but also at night. He devotes all his attention and activity to him. And, when he wants to set out in the morning, “he takes two denarii” from his tested silver, from his tested money, and pays the inn-keeper. Without a doubt the inn-keeper was the angel of the Church, whom the Samaritan bade to care for the man diligently and bring him back to health. For a short time he himself cared for the man. “Two denarii” appear to me to be knowledge of the Father and the Son, and understanding of how the Father is in the Son and the Son is in the Father. An angel is given this knowledge as if it were a payment. He is to care diligently for the man entrusted to him. The promise is made to him that whatever of his own money he spends on healing the half-dead man will be repaid directly to him.

The Samaritan, “who took pity on the man who had fallen among thieves,” is truly a “guardian,” and a closer neighbor than the Law and the prophets. He showed that he was the man’s neighbor more by deed than by word. According to the passage that says, “Be imitators of me, as I too am of Christ,” it is possible for us to imitate Christ and to pity those who “have fallen among thieves.” We can go to them, bind their wounds, pour in oil and wine, put them on our own beasts, and bear their burdens. The Son of God encourages us to do things like this. He is speaking not so much to the teacher of the Law as to us and to all men when he says, “Go and do likewise.” If we do, we shall obtain eternal life in Christ Jesus, to whom is glory and power for ages of ages. Amen.

Origen, Homilies on Luke 34.5–9